Hi guys! Just a quick post this morning and it is my 200th post! Can you believe it! Thanks for making this such a fun part of my life. My other personal blog http://smilingldsgirl.com is just about to get 1000 posts (and has 500 followers!) but I’ve had that for 7 years. This has only been since August Crazy!
Just thought I would give a little response to the Oscar noms, not that these awards matter that much. Still, it is nice to see quality praised.
I’m still working on seeing the nominated films and of the Best Picture noms I’ve seen Boyhood, Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma and they all deserve their noms. Probably the surprise was only 8 noms this year when they can have 10 (the best picture nomination process is so convoluted and ridiculous).
I’m going to see Whiplash on Saturday so excited for that and should get to everything else in the next couple of months. What’d you think of list?
Best Picture:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
The biggest surprise is no nomination for Lego Movie. This is probably the result of it being an early 2014 release and it being a comedy. The academy tends to praise dramas at the expense of comedies which I think are in many ways harder to pull off especially for kids. It was also a definite tip of the hat to hand drawn with Tale of Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea both getting nominated.
The fact is it was an incredibly competitive year in animation. I know a bunch of you disagree with me but I still think this is the strongest year in animation since the 90’s. Just my opinion but for a movie as inventive, creative and funny to be off the list as the Lego Movie says something about the strength of the year.
While I haven’t seen Song of the Sea it looks amazing, so I can’t argue with the 5 on the list. They were all great. Of the one’s I saw I gave them all A’s.
Best Animated Feature: (click film for link to my review)
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Other surprises- no nom for Life Itself which I thought given Ebert’s popularity would be a shoe-in but it is kind of appropriate as the documentary branch consistently let Ebert down (example- Hoop Dreams not being nominated in 1994).
No nom for David Oyelowo for Selma is a big surprise because it is a great performance and typically the academy loves actors who portray famous people well. Also it would have been one non-white nominee (amazing how non-diverse Hollywood can be?). All the 20 nominees for acting are white.
Surprised but not surprised with a Meryl Streep nom for Into the Woods. She is great and it was a fun performance, but at this point her getting nominated has become such a bore. I almost wish she’d just take herself out of contention. I would be stunned if Patricia Arquette doesn’t win in that category.
Robert Duvall is kind of the same way with his nom for The Judge which I haven’t seen but didn’t hear great things. I am also a little surprised Ethan Hawke got nominated but happy.
No nom for Gone Girl (or its director David Lynch) which is a surprise although I haven’t seen that yet either.
Tom Hardy deserved to be nominated for Locke. I mean who else can say they kept audiences transfixed talking on a car phone for 84 minutes? Oh well. Not enough room on the list. I’m surprised no love for Nightcrawler which I probably won’t see because of the violence but heard is pretty great.
While not a surprise, disappointing to only have 1 nom for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for visual effects. Andy Serkis deserves to be recognized for the amazing ACTING he does. Apes really affected me and made me think about life and conflict. It was a fun blockbuster but with something to say.
My prediction is it will be a big night for Boyhood. It certainly was the movie that impacted me the most in 2014. I think it will win picture, director, and supporting actress.
I also think Big Hero 6 will win for best animated movie. It’s a battle between it and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Both deserving.
What did you guys think? What surprised you?
To 200 more posts!
I still think that it isn’t as strong as 2012. What I am missing this year is THE big movie which feels like it is something special. Maybe Big Hero 6 will be that movie when I am FINALLY ALLOWED TO WATCH IT!!!! but so far, there was nothing with which I truly fell in love. And that includes the Lego movie. I finally watched it over Christmas, and while it was fun, it is, at the end of the day, an overly long toy commercial. So while I am surprised that it didn’t make it after all, I am glad that it didn’t. Really glad.
I am also happy that the traditional animated movies got a nod. And I am calling it now: I have the feeling that one of them will win. Without seeing Big Hero 6, it being a comic book adaptation is a black mark against it. And HTTYD is a sequel, which always have a harder time at the acadamy awards unless they are called Toy Story 3.
I know you disagree with me and think 2012 was better but since I am not a huge Wreck-it Ralph fan that year wasn’t as exciting for me but we’ve hashed that out enough. They were both strong years I just personally liked this one better. I think Lego, Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Boxtrolls and Kaguya fit the big movie definition for me. They are one’s I will be rewatching for years and will get on blu-ray. But again everyone has their own tastes so all good.
Certainly can see your point on Lego; although toy commercial is pretty harsh but to each their own. I thought it was inventive, creative and it made me laugh harder than any comedy in 2014. They used the legos as a visual canvas for telling their story not for self-promotion. But like I said I have no problem with the 5 nominees. They were equally clever so tough call.
You may be right on the hand drawn because I can see Kaguya winning because it is one of the last of Studio Ghibli (some say they are closing, some say on hiatus…either way sad). Could be a way to tip the hat to the studio. I would be shocked if Song of the Sea won simply because not many have had the chance to see it. It will be interesting to see. Since neither was nominated for Golden Globe we don’t know what the feeling will be. Kaguya is certainly the most visually artistic and beautiful film of 2014, so I would have no problem with it winning.
The reason why I see a chance for Song of the Sea is The Secret of Kells. Back then it had no chance against up, but they might want to give a nod to the style now that there isn’t a overwhelming good movie in the running.
Could be. It certainly looks great so no problem from me if it does. It comes to my theater in February. Would be great thing for the film and hand drawn animation
It is such a bummer you have to wait to see Big Hero 6 because I fear by the time you do see it you will have read so much that you will be stilted one way or the other. I went into it pretty green and was dazzled by it. How to train your dragon was one of the rare sequels that I think is better than its very strong predecessor but just me. I loved it and Boxtrolls too. Easy to please I guess. I’m glad Book of Life didnt get nominated because while I enjoyed it I wasnt blown away like the others
I don’t think people were blown away by the movie itself and more by the fact that it is from this studio which made the horrible turkey movie last year. I am not really a big fan of the first HTTYD, it was okay, but I never got the rabid love for it. So it’s not that hard to top for me.
That’s probably true. Good point. Free Birds was clever premise but horribly executed. I loved the visuals of Book of Life but the story was convoluted and so it got a B from me.
Yeah, but still a good efford for a studio which just started so badly.
For sure. I really enjoyed it.
But also 2012 was one of the worst years of my life personally so I wasn’t really focused on movies at that time so tough to say. I think 2010 was stronger than 2012 with Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Megamind, Toy Story 3, Legends of the Guardians and the Illusionist but again just me. 2010 was a really good year for me so maybe that does play a role.
2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were all pretty strong, which is why 2013 was such a big disappointment.
Fun time to be an animation fan 🙂
Any surprises for you in other categories?
Not really. I had hoped that The Winter Soldier might get a best picture nod, but I knew that it was unlikely to happen. It’s more or less the expected names and movies. But to be honest, the animation category is the only one which really interests me, partly because it is the one where I can make an informed comment (it is hard to judge if the other nominations are fair if you haven’t seen all the movies which were done this year), and partly because it is a little bit less influences by oscar politics (I hope…so far, I only disagreed twice).
Very true. Part of it is tough because the Oscar movies come out at the same time and it is hard to get them all in. before February. Last year it took me till June to see all the best picture nominees.
I really hope Dawn of the Planet of the Apes wins the Visual Effects award – not just because the effects are so good, but because they serve the story. If the apes weren’t convincing, the whole thing would fall apart.
On the other hand, I’m very disgruntled that Interstellar has been nominated for Best Sound Mixing, as I can’t remember a film where the sound mixing was so atrocious.
Interesting. I haven’t seen Interstellar yet. Not a fan? I feel like the academy should give Andy Serkis an honorary award which they last did for Toy Story when their achievement didnt fit into a category at the time. If what he does in apes is not considered acting than it doesnt fit a category so perfect use of special award.
Best sound work (what is difference between sound mixing and editing?) I saw was Capt 2 (that car crash scene was so amazing with it’s sound) and no nom for that. Oh well
Apparently sound editing is to do with the creation of the sounds, and sound mixing is putting them all together. The problem with Interstellar was that they kept turning the music up as loudly as possible to the point that it drowned out the dialogue. Much like with how silly “WHERESTHETRIGGER?!?” sounded in The Dark Knight Rises, I can’t believe Nolan or anyone else didn’t pick up on it.
After LOTR, King Kong and the Apes films, Andy Serkis definitely deserves official recognition at this point. I do laugh at the Honest Trailers comment though: “See Andy Serkis deliver an Oscar-worthy performance…while the cast and crew deliver an even more Oscar-worthy performance by not laughing at a tiny British man in a unitard pretending to be a monkey!”
Ha that is good! Nolan can sometimes be a little too in love with the Hans Zimmer scores so I can see what you are saying. I just thought Capt 2 was awesome for its sounds.
I also personally would put Lego over Boxtrolls even though I had Boxtrolls at 8 on my list of best of year. I have never seen a movie like Lego where I have seen similar movies to Boxtrolls.